Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Among Youth

John P. Elder & Sandra Larios & Esmeralda M. Iñiguez

The prevention of cigarette smoking and other forms of tobacco use is among the world's leading public health priorities. Tobacco use continues to be the leading preventable cause of death in the United States. Smoking and spit tobacco use begins early in life; currently, about one third of high school-age adolescents in the United States use tobacco. Adolescence is the critical time period for prevention and early cessation efforts, given both the highly addictive nature of the substance and that the vast majority of smokers begin smoking before the age of 18. If interventions can keep youth tobacco free through adolescence, the chances of their initiating smoking after high school are much smaller. Numerous studies have also found that adolescents who smoke are more likely to use other drugs. The social, psychological, and biological factors that contribute to an individual's use of tobacco are similar to the factors that The ...

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